


All I Need

by Lepidopteran (inarticulate)



Series: Friendverse [2]
Category: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-15
Updated: 2010-08-15
Packaged: 2017-10-12 00:33:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/118847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inarticulate/pseuds/Lepidopteran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Kink Bingo.  The summary contains a major character spoiler and thus is in the notes instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I Need

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Kink Bingo square "mechanical/technological." Crow is in need of maintenance work, and Seto wants to help.

"Crow, _please,_ " Seto says, his fingers curled into fists on his thighs. "I just want to help! I've done it before, you know I have." The memory is raw between them, and Seto wonders for a moment if he should have said it at all. "Just… let me do this."

Crow hunches his shoulders and scowls. "I'm fine." He doesn't sound convinced, and Seto can hear the faint waver in his voice threatening to drag it into a tinny monotone. "I can take care of it myself. I'm used to it."

Seto's mouth tugs down in an unhappy grimace. "You're not fine. You can't walk right anymore." He reaches out to press his palm against Crow's shoulder, and Crow's gaze follows his hand. "If you don't want me, at least let Ren look at you. She's worked on PF before." It's not quite a lie, but Seto doesn't mention that he was there, supervising because he'd managed to burn one of his hands and couldn't do the detail work himself. Ren's quick to learn and good with her hands; she just doesn't like robots the way that Seto does.

"Like hell I want her working on me!" Crow thrusts his chin forward and tugs on his cap. "Look, if I let you do this, you can't laugh at me."

The very idea is so ludicrous that Seto wonders if Crow got it from one of his books. He nods and trails his hand down to squeeze Crow's. "I promise. I didn't laugh at you the first time, and I'm not going to laugh at you now."

Crow stares at him for a long moment, and Seto worries for a moment that he's gotten jammed. But eventually, he starts to pluck off his accessories, tossing them onto the bed in a scattered pile. When he's done with that, he grabs his shirt and jacket and pulls them over his head in one motion, dislodging his hat in the process.

Seto's breath catches. Sure, he saw Crow's chest panel when he had to replace the battery and check for damage. Somehow, though, this is different; this is Crow _letting_ Seto see the rectangular indentation in the center of Crow's chest and the flashing red lights where his heart would be. Seto licks his lips and reaches out to hook his fingertips in the catch to Crow's control panel so that it slips free.

Underneath, there's the readout panel that Seto remembers, and the switches. "Um," he says belatedly, pulling back and looking at Crow. "Do you want me to shut you down for this?"

Crow tilts his head in what could be a shrug. "Nah, it doesn't matter."

"It's not uncomfortable or anything?"

Crow snorts. "Not at all! You think _you_ could make _me_ uncomfortable?"

Seto sighs and doesn't point out that he just did, earlier. Instead he reaches into Crow's chest to press a carefully memorized pattern and watch the readout scroll past.

"Loose wire: rear left foot," Crow says in that emotionless monotone. "Cooling system: seventy percent. Battery: ninety-one percent."

Seto nods. A loose wire is good; a loose wire is easily fixed. "Thank you."

"Who're you thanking? That's the backup system, you know." Crow huffs, his voice normal again. "Just… hurry up, all right?" He yanks up the leg of his trousers.

Seto bites his lip and glances up at Crow before reaching down to tug at the boot on his left foot. "It seems weird not to thank you," he says quietly. "I did it before you powered up, too."

After a beat, Crow just mutters, "Idiot." He doesn't sound mad, though, so Seto focuses on trying to calm his heartbeat as he slides the sock off to reveal Crow's perfectly-jointed toes set in their ball sockets. He's looking around for a panel like the one in Crow's chest when Crow reaches past him and does something complicated; the back of his leg from the calf down slides off to reveal wires winding around the metal structure underneath.

Seto breathes out. "Can you…" he starts, but Crow is already flopping over on his front. "Thank you," Seto adds as he peers in. There's a beep and all the lights go dim. Seto blinks.

"You'd better not hurt yourself," is Crow's only comment.

"Yeah." Seto reaches in to press his hand to the metal; it's still hot, and he shouldn't do this. This is how he got burned last time, when he reached inside before PF had cooled down, but he wants to feel Crow against his palm. He wants to memorize the differences between Crow's metal skeleton and Ren's hand. The loose wire is right there, and Seto watches it for a moment as Crow's leg cools from painfully hot to pleasantly warm. "I'm, um, I'm going to have to…"

"I know, I know!" Crow interrupts. He turns his head to look at Seto at an angle that makes Seto wince. Crow's eyes are dark, and there's no pain on his face. Why would there be? "You aren't the first person to fix me up like this."

Somehow, that thought makes something hot and painful clamp down hard on Seto's chest. "Right," he says, looking away. He pulls his hand out so that he can clamber over the musty beds to get to the toolbag, but before he can move, Crow's hand is on his wrist and holding tight. Seto tugs half-heartedly. "Crow? You can let go."

"You're really, really strange," Crow says. There's something weird about his voice, but it's not a monotone, and Seto swallows. "You're the weirdest human I've ever met."

Seto looks down at the blankets, at where they've been eaten away by time. "You really think so?"

Crow squeezes his wrist. "Yeah, I do. But it's okay, since you're my friend."

"Best friend," Seto corrects. He licks his lips and risks a glance up at Crow. "We're still best friends… right?"

Crow laughs, a short, breathless sound, and then he's moving in a strange, inhuman shimmy, his leg unmoving and skinless, his chest bare and all his inner workings right there for Seto to see. Seto's breath catches again, and then Crow's leaning in, pressing his lips against Seto's. Seto closes his eyes and imagines he can feel the electricity under Crow's mouth as Crow's tongue slides across his lower lip. "Yeah," Crow murmurs as he pulls away. "We're still best friends."


End file.
